The World Dreamers
by NickeltheRed
Summary: Neverland was once birthed from Peter's own thoughts, and now years later he's drawn to a girl who has the same ability to thrive on imagination. Peter/Wendy oneshot. Semi-AU.


**I own nothing related to the Peter Pan franchise.**

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Co-credit in ideas and dedication go to

Brytte Mystere

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 _"What is now proved was once only imagined."_

 _—William Blake_

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From infancy, Peter falls out of his pram and goes uncaught by his mother. Then as the seasons roll over the English hills thereafter, he slowly transforms into a lean and wild lad teetering on the edge of adolescence and maturity whose voice sometimes cracks when he's drowsy.

He's raised and supervised by the reel of pixies who dwell in the treetops of Kensington Gardens. They teach him everything he needs to know of this mortal world and the others that exist on the outside; they also entertain him with the gift of flight and bless him with panpipes.

Soon, Peter begins to dream of a world of his very own faraway and eventually he wakes one morning against a strip of hot white tropical sands, the blue waves crashing over his legs.

* * *

It's been a century since Peter has felt drawn to another living person in this way.

Wendy Darling is youth, she's frailty, she is the light that chases shadows away. She is the smile that shines through the veil of frowning adults, because she has something they have forgotten years ago. She has a rich taste for stories and solely thrives off imagination.

He watches her from behind a green curtain of leaves as Wendy runs barefooted over the fresh grass in Springtide.

She must be a World Dreamer like he is.

And he shall offer her to see his.

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Neverland was once born from the depths of Peter's own mind. It's a place of sun, sand, and sea. He's even dreamed up fierce pirates to fight him, silly cannibals to hunt him, clever Native Indians to play with him, and an envious pixie called Tinkerbell, to cherish him more than her own life. The Lost Boys came last. They washed up on shore one right after another when the moon was full and high among the stars, bearing the physical images Peter had previously visualized for them. He gave them their names too and they follow him without question.

For as it was thought up, thus shall it be forever.

Though, Wendy is more than he could ever dream up on his own. Her girlish fifteen year old self is free for him to take. She's untouched, unspoiled by age, and easy to influence. Those bright blue eyes of hers see into the soul, and her chatty tongue is never tired of talking about magic. Her inner fantasies sound all too real while he secretly listens nearby.

She is a perfect Wendy...as far as Wendys go, as light and happy as a singing bird dancing in the clouds.

One day, he vows, one day soon she _will_ fly.

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"What do you think, Tink?" he whispers, perched within the branches outside of her kept-open widow.

Tink's wings flutter in irritation, glaring at the sleeping Wendy who curls sweetly into her pillow, but for Peter's sake, she still replies with, "You silly ass. Let Neverland decide that."

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"No." Peter commands grinning to himself, his cheeks painted with Native ceremonial dyes. "No go home. Stay for endless moons. Have heaps of good times."

Wendy sighs as he passes by her, all haughty, and she hangs her head in uncertainty before her brothers, along with the Lost Boys, come up from behind her desperately, their dirty little hands clinging to her waist and arms as they shout out their own protests at once, begging her to give up London.

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Wendy empowers Peter. Her faith in him, her joy, her deep adoration for adventure rile up the powers of Neverland almost threefold. His heart burns...it beats hard against his ribs when she speaks of going home. She's the one who strengthens his inspiration and Neverland becomes stronger and bolder with her walking along its trails, her naked feet pressing against its rock, her fingertips brushing across its clear waters, charging the land with her own energy and hopes.

She's a World Dreamer, he's certain of it! She has a gift that comes but once a century—if that.

She's belongs _here_ , not there.

Peter's determined to make her see that.

* * *

Feeling irked, no happy thoughts are found right now, so Peter can't hardly lift his heels off the ground. He scowls ahead and stalks through the trees not knowing what else to do, and slaps the long jungle leaves out of his path while he distances himself from the Hideaway Tree. And Wendy. But she doesn't leave him alone, echoing closely in his footsteps. Her hand reaches for his wrist, pleadingly. "You cannot catch me and make me a man!" he calls out.

"Peter, please, I just think—"

He doesn't let her finish that statement. He just whirls on her and she nearly stumbles right into his chest as she tries to stop and gaze back at him. "No, Wendy! I mean it! Most children are born to grow up in that world. Some aren't though, some like us. Do you know what happens when children like us grow up?"

She blinks. "...What happens?"

"You lose yourself. Your hair and your skin aren't the only things that will shrivel up...you heart will, too. I can't stand that. If you go back now, I'm warning you! You cannot ever come back, never ever!"

* * *

He lays there upon his back across Hook's muddy deck, wounded and heavy-eyed; his blood runs down the wooden surface in red lively streams.

His pride is torn, and his imagination is now tainted... _corrupted_ by the possible (likely) future that features a taller, older, womanly Wendy being held in the arms of the strange man who Hook has named _Husband_. Peter will accept his defeat in this moment...and he'll even welcome his death if he means that he'll miss Wendy abandoning Neverland and changing her life to suit her parents'.

And before Hook's silvery curved artificial hand comes plummeting into his stomach for the final blow, Wendy screams and stops him briefly. She is then allowed to say her last farewell.

But instead of sad whispers of goodbye, she leans in gently yet surely, and her soft rosebud lips connect with Peter's that are cold and chapped.

This one action sends a sharp surge of an unexpressed magic under his veins, and abruptly, he bursts back up into the sky like a shooting star, laughing.

Wendy has thimbled him back to life.

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When Hook is finally cut down and swallowed whole by Tick Tock, and when the pixie guides prepare for takeoff to lead the boys back to the little house at Number 14, Wendy tells them she is chosen. She is destined to stay at Peter's side forever; for she sees the truth in everything now, in what they are, the World Dreamers.

By their will, Neverland shifts again reflecting both of Peter and Wendy's wishes, becoming an entire world of wild lily vines, warm lagoons, songs, and blood, love, and blue moons.


End file.
